D'Deridex-Class
The D'Deridex-Class is a Romulan Warbird and one of the core vessels of the Romulan fleet. Following the destruction of the Romulan home world, examples of this ship can be found in all the Romulan successor states. History The D’deridex’s design lineage begins in the late 23rd century, when the Star Empire first fielded the Argus-Class Warbird in its many conflicts against the Klingons and other species. After the disastrous outcome of the Tomed Incident, in which Starfleet inflicted substantial losses on the Star Navy, and ultimately defeated it, by discovering and exploiting certain weaknesses in the Argus-Class, Romulan engineers began developing other ships which would include the Argus’s strengths but lack its weaknesses. The result, over 15 years later, was the D’deridex, at the time the largest and most powerful ship the Star Navy had ever designed. It contained a number of key technological innovations which have since become standard on Romulan ships. First, the shape and composition of its hull enhance the functioning of the cloaking device (as do the power management systems, which the engineers designed for maximum efficiency to free up as much power as possible for the cloak and, in battle, weapons). Second, its deep-space sensors were also optimized to work while cloaked, thus eliminating a problem that had plagued the Star Navy for almost a century. Third, its bilateral navigation arrays enabled it to travel further, and more accurately, than any other Romulan ship ever designed. Class-wide upgrades in 2371 improved the D’deridex’s systems, and a second round of upgrades in 2378 allowed the D’deridex to continue its role as a frontline vessel into the 2380s and beyond the death of the Romulan Star Empire. Appearance The outboard plan of the warbird's design incorporated a "shell" hull design, with a prominent forward section. The bulk of the ship's overall size was incorporated in the open-shell, which resembled two separate "wings" that met at either side at the warp nacelles, at the "tail" and off the "neck", which was connected to the "head" or primary forward hull section. The "head" featured the bridge, main engineering, and a majority of the primary weapon systems of the vessel. Romulan vessels were traditionally painted in different colours to mark which fleet they served in - this tradition continues with the balkanization of the Romulan Star Empire, with several paint-jobs present including green, ivory with purple, purple with green, black with green or red. Capabilities Initially, the D’deridex served as a jack-of-all-trades, performing missions ranging from defense, to covert aggression against the Federation, to exploration of deep space. Since it was first launched, the Star Navy designed and commissioned many new, more specialized ships and transferred some of the ''D’deridex’''s missions to them, thus freeing the ship up for the more purely military assignments it was originally intended for. But regardless of this “diminishment” of its responsibilities, it remained the most frequently manufactured ship in the Star Empire; every spacedock and shipyard throughout Romulan space builds or repairs D’deridexs on a regular basis. The D’deridex carries many potent offensive systems (and moreover, as some Starfleet personnel suspect, the ship’s very size is a subtle psychological weapon, designed to intimidate existing and potential opponents). Its powerful forward disruptors allows it to meet any challenge head-on, and if that’s not enough, it also has two plasma torpedo launcher mounted in the same place. Other disruptors and an aft plasma torpedo launcher complete its primary tactical package. Of course the ship’s most powerful weapon is its cloaking device which it can use to, among other things, cross into the Federation Neutral Zone on covert missions. Category:Ships Category:Ship Classes Category:Romulan Ship Classes